6.15.2016

Page 15

Elle’s stomach grumbles.  She laughs.  “How about hungry?”
Kinzie shrugs.  “What?  You hungry?”
“Of course.  Didn't you… Right.  Of course you didn't hear my stomach grumble.”  She turns red.
“No problem.  Sometimes I forget I'm deaf too.”  Kinzie walks over to a box, pulls out a loaf of bread and throws it to Elle.
Elle rips off a piece and chews.
Kinzie makes a c-shape with her hand and runs it down her chest.  “Hungry.”
Elle imitates the action several times.
“Very hungry.”  Kinzie picks up a book and reads while Elle finishes off the loaf.
“What's a scavenger?”  Elle waits until the girl looks up from her book to speak.
“Someone who picks stuff up that other people don't use, right?”  She makes a sweeping motion at the piles of boxes around the room.  They appear to be mostly filled with electronic parts.
“You said it though like it was some kind of group that you belonged to.”
“It's more like a group that other groups put us into because we don't belong to their groups.  Because to them not belonging is so wrong they got to fit everyone into some box.”  She kicks a box lightly with her toe.
“What other groups?”
“The fighters you saw?  Those guys are boxers.  That's what they call themselves.  That's what they are.  That's how they live.  That's how everyone sees them.  Gotta belong to be seen.  Everyone has their label.”
“But you don't?”
“Nope.  I'm a scavenger.  If you don't give yourself a label, one will be provided for you.  Scavenger.  Unbeliever.”
“Unbeliever?”
“I don't make it a habit of running through doors that get my head chopped off.”
“Ascension.”
“So say the believers, yes.”  Kinzie rummages through a box. “You still hungry?”
“No.  Tired.”
“Alright.  Let's talk more tomorrow.”

No comments: